sudden and massive oil leak

[Applianceman2010]

My a4 2.0 sline on a 57' plate has spilled it's guts everywhere! From what I can see it's come somewhere from the top rear of the engine. The car had a service beginning of last month. The car was still running fine when my wife rang to say that the engine warning and oil light had come on.(I got her to turn it off straight away. The car has no oil left in it now.
Any suggestions where I should look at first? I've taken the floor pans off underneath and I can't pinpoint anywhere apart from the right of the engine.
Thanks in advance DJ

 

[csm]

Has the oil filter housing cap came loose or split ? Maybe a ham fisted mechanic has over-tightened it causing it to split and leak or simply not tightened it at all !!

 

[Craig Cull]

Is it a petrol or diesel?

 

[Applianceman2010]

Ok after getting it home (recovery wagon)and investigating. it looks like the head gasket may of gone... the water has turned to oil and i can see water residue on the oil cap. Its very strange though as there has been no warning signs what so ever. its Diesel and its done 82k so im surprised if it is... suggestions on what else it could be?

 

[Craig Cull]

I'm unfamiliar with a Diesel engine, but I would think head gasket aswell tbh

 

[novril]

Oil cooler is another possibility... Best to have someone take a look before you worry too much really.

 

[Applianceman2010]

yes just been doing a load of googling and im thinking oil cooler! i can't find any threads HOW to do it though?

 

[Craig Cull]

Yeah I can see why the oil cooler could be at fault. Think I would strip it down and go from there. Can't get much worse really. At least you don't have to drop the oil I guess

 

[Applianceman2010]

Ok so a little update, it turns out it was the oil cooler. Unlike other posts I have seen, it appears it was a sudden and massive failure. From what I can tell is basically all of the oil from the engine into the cooling system. It took me about 10mins to change the actual oil cooler (just unscrew the bottom cap below the oil filter).But it took the entire day to clean out the cooling system.

The way I did this was to flush the worst of it out with running water . I also have a wet and dry vac (cylinder type like a Henry hoover) which I used to suck out a lot of residue. This method worked really really well for cleaning out the heater matrix.

I then ran 4 rad cleaners through until the water came out fairly clear (each round took about 30/40 mins to heat up and stay at 90° for the recommended 10mins).

Also the "oil leak" was from the water bottle bubbling over with oil.

I hope this might help someone later down the line.

 

[Applianceman2010]

Oh also to add I changed the oil , oil filter and coolant (obviously)

 

[rizzini7]

Hope it's sorted mate

 

[leegsi]

Thanks for the update

 

[hades-]

id run it for 50 ish miles and reflush the coolant

 

[lynallbel]

Good tip to clean coolant systems is kettle descaler or dishwasher tablets or ctfr which is a truckwash.
Obviously you dont leave any of them in there for long, but they all work.